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Amazon Lures Food-Stamp Shoppers as Online Buying Surges 50-Fold

  • Opportunity to court a cohort more likely to frequent Walmart
  • More than 1 million food stamp households buy groceries on web
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Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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Ian Babcock used to take the bus from his home in northern Michigan to get groceries, a trip that was inconvenient before the pandemic made it dangerous. For the last several months, he’s been using his food-stamp benefits to get groceries delivered by Amazon.

“It potentially is a lifesaver for me,” he said.